Theme: uhm gay. (fluff w/ *slight* angst but ends in fluff)
Note: the last holiday was for the upm’s so now we’re doing the hashira<3 (as if I haven’t only written the hashira for the past months ðŸ˜)
Ships (READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING OR DONT COMPLAIN): SaneOba, RenGiyuu, ShinoMitsu, GenMui, Tengenxhis wives (bc they’re poly!!!)
Gyomei is aroace :3
(MODERN AU!! ALL THEIR FAMILIES ARE ALIVE) —cw;; homophobia?? a slur??
×××
They had unanimously agreed to come out to their families in june. Well, unanimously might be a stretch, but in the end they had all decided to at least try. For some, they knew it would go perfectly fine and had only held back from not wanting to deal with conversation over something so intimate to themselves. For others, however, it was a bit… iffy, to say the least. Since most to all were dating someone (save for Gyomei who was AroAce), they decided that their partner(s) should be present in the event for emotional support (or more, depending on the reactions).
Mitsuri was the first, knowing full well her parents would be supportive as hell. They had always been throughout her whole life and she couldn’t be more thankful of them. Shinobu went with her. A couple days ago, Mitsuri’s family had invited Shinobu to dinner because she and Mitsuri were ‘close friends,’ which was convenient as they wouldn’t need an excuse as to why Shinobu was there in the first place.
Mitsuri found herself nervous, catching some of the doubts of the others. Shinobu soothed her with an encouraging smile as they entered the house.
Mitsuri’s parents instantly welcomed Shinobu and ushered the two to the table, the dinner already set. There was lively chatter for a bit as Mitsuri composed herself, shooting Shinobu a quick glance.
“Uhmm, can I say something?” she said abruptly.
Her parents looked up and nodded. Mitsuri’s siblings were in a different room, playing to not bother Shinobu—though she had insisted she wouldn’t mind.
“Okay. Ehm… Shinobu-San and I are dating.” She spoke slowly, allowing the words to roll off her tongue. “And I’m Pan? Pansexual? So I’m… attracted to anyone, despite their gender—but mostly to Shinobu-San, she’s the best,” she concluded, with a grin.
Shinobu let out a breath, turning her head to hide her own smile.
Mitsuri’s parents blinked and for a moment, they said nothing. Mitsuri fidgetted, her smile wavering. Then: “See, I told you there was something more!” her mother exclaimed exasperatedly, turning to her husband. “Now tell me I know our daughter better!”
Her father frowned. “But-“
“I do, don’t I?”
“Eh??” Mitsuri looked from one parent to the other, confusion written all over her face. “Did you know already?”
“Oh!” They instantly turned back to her, offering a chorus of congratulations. “I wasn’t certain, but I had a hunch,” her mother explained. Then they had another welcome for Shinobu—but into the family, rather than the house.
Shinobu was touched at how quickly they had accepted her and deemed them excessively sweet as Mitsuri escorted her home. “I suppose that’s where you get it from,” she commented, kissing Mitsuri’s cheek.
“Eh… You give me too much credit, Shinobu-san,” Mitsuri said, her cheeks a pretty pink. She hugged her briefly. “I love you, bye bye!!”
“I’ll text you when I get back home,” Shinobu agreed, waving as she walked down the street.
×××
Tengen was next, though he only came out to his parents as a joke because there wasn’t a single person in the world who didn’t know about his wives.
He strolled into the living room, hands in his pockets and said proudly to his mother and father—”Guys, I’m poly, polyamorous, polysexual, whatever.”
His father simply rolled his eyes. “You think I don’t know? You told me last year, and the year before, and the year before that. And yesterday. And last week. I don’t care.”
Tengen grinned. “Yepp—anyway, I want you two to meet my wives.”
“We arranged them to be your wives—we know them. We knew them before you met them!” his father retorted, growing irritated.
“Yeah, well, they changed. So you won’t recognise them,” Tengen said. On cue, his wives entered the room, stifling smiles as they stood by his side. “See? They’re Hinatsuru, Suma, and Makio.”
“They look the same,” his mother commented, confused.
“They changed clothes,” Tengen explained.
“I- I swear to fucking- Just… get out,” his father sighed.
“But-“
“Out!!”
Tengen shrugged and he and his wives made their way out. “Thought you would like to know, though!!!” he called out, before closing the door.
His parents sighed and went back to what they had been doing.
×××
Kyojuro and Giyuu were next, both having families that were always supportive and on their side. Giyuu insisted they told Tsutako first, since she was only one person and it would be able to make them more confident to tell Kyojuro’s family.
Tsutako guessed what was happening the second the two entered the room hand-in-hand, but she let them talk. “Do you need something? Is he staying over?” she inquired, putting down what she had been doing.
Giyuu fidgetted, suddenly nervous. He told Tsutako nearly everything, and he was wondering what she would think that he had hidden this from her. She probably suspected that he was gay—no doubt she knew—but he had never formally told her, so it felt like he was keeping a secret from her.
Kyojuro went straight into it, however, enthusiastic as always. “Hello, ma’am!! We wanted to tell you that we’re dating!!” he said, squeezing Giyuu’s hand gently. “We have been for a couple weeks now!! And I’m very happy that he likes me back, you know. He’s the best!”
Tsutako smiled. “I’m happy to hear that.”
Giyuu’s head snapped up at her quick response. “Ehm… You aren’t surprised?”
“Not necessarily. You two seemed rather close recently,” she explained, walking over and taking his hand. “I’m glad you have each other.”
“But… what about that I’m… attracted to men?” Giyuu mumbled.
Tsutako’s thumb circled the back of his hand comfortingly. “I know you better than anyone, Giyuu. Maybe even better than yourself. I’ve noticed you seem to be drawn to boys more since you were, even, a child. That’s been fairly obvious to me,” she said.
“Ah! That’s cool!!” Kyojuro exclaimed. He flashed a smile. “I’m pansexual!”
Tsutako smiled. “That’s lovely!”
“Mhm!”
Giyuu blinked. “Why didn’t you say anything about it, then?” he asked, going back to what she had said before.
“I figured you would tell me once you were ready. I didn’t want to push you, or assume if I was wrong,” she said. “Now, is he staying over or not?”
Giyuu glanced at Kyojuro. “If you don’t mind? We’re going to his house in a bit to tell his family first, though,” he said.
“Of course. And yes, you can stay the night,” she said, turning to Kyojuro. “Leave the door open a bit, though.”
Giyuu frowned. “Why?”
She only gave him a sly smile before dropping his hand. “I’ll get started on making lunch, you two better go off and do what you want to so that the food isn’t cold by the time you get back.”
“Okay!” Kyojuro said, tugging Giyuu’s hand.
Giyuu shifted his hair to hide his flushed face as he was practically dragged out of the house.
Upon arriving at the Rengoku Household, there ended up being a lot of welcomes and chatter before they even got to the point. There was also a brief re-introduction of Giyuu to Kyojuro’s parents in case they had forgotten who he was—which they hadn’t.
Somehow noticing that there was something to be told, Ruka interrupted the conversation about Senjuro’s age—Giyuu had commented that Senjuro looked older than he had remembered, which had lapsed in a recap about the past few months.
“Is there anything the two of you need to say?” she asked curiously. “I’m assuming you didn’t come here for a quick visit.”
“Oh! Yeah!” Kyojuro said, as if just remembering. “Me and Giyuu are dating, and we wanted you to know.”
“Oh?” Shinjuro asked, eyeing Giyuu. “Does he treat you well?”
Giyuu shrank back at the stare but Kyojuro hugged him. “Mhm! He’s the best! He does everything he can for me, even though he does too much sometimes,” he said, laughing.
“Too much?” Shinjuro pressed, still giving Giyuu a side eye.
“He buys me things and spends too much money on me,” Kyojuro explained. “I had to have him return various things because they cost waaay too much!”
“Oh. Okay,” Shinjuro said. “Fine.”
Ruka shot Shinjuro a quick glare before smiling at Kyojuro and Giyuu. “I’m glad to hear of this. Kyojuro did talk a lot about you, more than anyone else,” she said, ruffling her son’s hair.
Blush crept up Giyuu’s cheeks. “Really?”
“Yes, and he seems quite the more happy around you. We—my husband and I—are both glad to hear of this,” she said.
Shinjuro nodded quickly at the inflection in the word. “Yes. Glad.”
Kyojuro grinned. “Great! I’m staying at Giyuu’s tonight, also,” he said, as an afterthought.
“What? N-” Shinjuro started, only for Ruka to talk over him.
“That’s wonderful. Have fun, and don’t be too much trouble to the Tomioka’s,” she said calmly, kissing Kyojuro’s forehead.
“Thank you!”
Giyuu nodded. “Thank you,” he echoed.
Ruka smiled.
×××
Sanemi and Obanai had perhaps been dating the longest, compared to the rest—save for Tengen. Which meant they had also been hiding their relationship for the longest. Which made sense, given that Sanemi’s father could possibly be the most homophobic piece of shit ever—and that Obanai’s family was anything but supportive. So it made sense for them to be weary of this. They had agreed, of course. But they ended up waiting till almost the end of June to say anything.
In the end, they told Sanemi’s parents first. They knew, at least, that his mother would be supportive (she knew that Sanemi was gay, Kyogo did not). Of course, they told Shizu first. Genya and Muichiro hadn’t spoken of their relationship to Genya’s family yet (the Tokito’s knew, though), and so they joined Sanemi and Obanai for the confession.
Shizu was curious as to why the four had approached her. She paused in folding the laundry, a shirt half-folded on her lap as she looked up. “Is something wrong?”
“No, we just wanted to tell you something,” Sanemi said. Obanai hovered next to him, unsure what to do. Sanemi’s hand slipped into Obanai’s, their fingers intertwining.
Genya tilted his head to the side slightly, embarrassed. “Yeah.”
“Mhm?” Shizu noticed the held hands but said nothing about it. They would tell her.
“Me and Genya are dating,” Muichiro said abruptly, tugging on Genya’s sleeve. “Pick me up,” he said to him.
Genya sighed but crouched down. Muichiro clambered onto his back, resting his chin contently on his shoulder.
“Oh?” Shizu smiled. “That’s nice. What’s your name?”
“He’s Muichiro Tokito,” Genya responded.
“Right. He has a brother, right? A twin? I wasn’t sure which it was,” Shizu said.
“Yeah.”
She turned to Sanemi and Obanai. “And you two?…”
“Ah, we’re also dating,” Sanemi said, his hand tightening slightly on Obanai’s. “We haven’t told Obanai’s family yet, but Tokito’s knows about Genya.”
“I’m glad you could trust me with this,” Shizu said gently, putting the laundry to the side and standing to kiss both her son’s foreheads. “I hope telling Iguro’s family goes okay.”
Sanemi nodded. “I hope so too.”
“You don’t mind that I’m dating him?” Obanai asked quietly, his voice barely audible as he hid behind Sanemi. He was always nervous around women, though he preferred to not make it so obvious. But this was his boyfriend’s mother for fuck’s sake! He had the right to be even more timid!—as much as he hated to act like a fucking child in front of her, he found himself unable to help it.
Shizu shook her head. “Of course I don’t mind. As long as Sanemi’s happy with this, then it’s fine. You take care of him well, yes?”
Obanai gave a quick nod. Sanemi let out a breath. “Mother- He’s great. And yes, he makes me happy. He’s endlessly better than father, too,” he added.
Shizu nodded. “I just want to be cautious. I made many wrong decisions at your age…”
Genya glanced at her, then Sanemi, unsure if he should still be here.
Sanemi’s free hand clamped onto Genya’s arm, holding him there. Genya had to learn to make good decisions too.
“Don’t worry,” Obanai said slowly. “If I do anything that makes Sanemi uncomfortable, I’ll gladly pitch myself off a- I mean- I’ll… make amendments to it, I swear.”
Shizu offered a smile. “There’s no need for dying, but thank you. You seem like a lovely person and I know the two of you have been friends for a while as well, so I trust you. Forgive me for my doubts.”
“It’s fine. I understand,” Obanai said.
Sanemi nodded. “Right. Want to tell your parents today?” he asked, letting go of Genya as he turned to Obanai.
“I don’t know… I mean, sure? But I’m worried they’ll ruin everything,” Obanai admitted.
Genya took that as his cue to leave and, hoisting Muichiro higher on his waist, he gave a quick goodbye before heading up to his room.
“That’s true.”
“Are we telling your dad?” Obanai asked, hoping to stall.
Shizu frowned. “You’re telling him? I don’t know if that’s the best idea.”
Sanemi sighed. “Well, we can only hide it for so long. But you don’t have to be there when I tell him,” he said to Obanai. “It’ll probably be best if you don’t get stressed about anything before we tell your family.”
“But won’t it be harder on you?” Obanai asked.
“If you’re telling your father, I want to be there,” Shizu said. Something in her voice gave no room for argument.
“Fine, then,” Sanemi said. “You stay here, Obanai. I’ll tell him now to get over with it.”
Obanai nodded. “Okay.” He sat down on one of the cushions as Sanemi and Shizu went to Kyogo’s room.
Wanting to stay on his relatively good side, Sanemi knocked before entering.
“I want to tell you something,” he said, in response to the loud and irritated “what?!” that followed his knock.
There was a pause. Shizu took the moment to breathe slowly, preparing herself. The door opened.
“The fuck do you want?” Kyogo asked, eyeing Shizu before turning back to Sanemi. “It better be worth my time.”
Sanemi bit back a retort and let out a slow breath. “Right. I have a boyfriend.”
Kyogo took a second to process this. “Boyfriend? Boyfriend?” he clarified.
“Yes,” Sanemi said impatiently. “That’s what I said.”
“You’re a boy.”
“I know.” Sanemi forced down the urge to roll his eyes.
“You can’t date- Are you-? God! I knew it. You raised a fucking disappointment!” Kyogo practically shouted, turning his attention to Shizu. “You were aaalways saying how I was bad at raising the children, so you tried taking over, yet look where it’s got you! Here he is, delusional and dating boys. He has no chance growing into a man at this point. It’s a wonder he’s survived so long under your wing, in the first place. Now he’s gone insane and it’s all because of your inability to be reasonable and let me do the work. Women are always like this, did you know? Bitches like you should just die.”
Sanemi’s eyes narrowed. His patience had already been treaded on and it dispersed now. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Shizu raised a hand to Sanemi, stopping him from saying anything more. She turned to Kyogo and, despite her size, she seemed to almost tower over him, fury over his insults towards Sanemi urging her to stand up. “Sanemi is not a disappointment. He will never be. He’s not the delusional one, in fact you might be. If you can’t see what a strong and kind and amazing man he’s grown up to be, then it’s clear who’s the unreasonable one. You can’t talk about him like that when we all know that he’s a far better person than you could ever be,” she said. She spoke firmly, her eyes fixed on his glare.
“Mother-”
Shizu shook her head and Sanemi fell quiet.
Kyogo spluttered for a response, not having expected her to talk back. She had never done it before. He hadn’t anticipated that she would start now. “You- You woman!” he shouted pathetically. “As if you have any premonition of his future! You’re just as bad as- as that fag,” he spat. “Don’t talk to me—either of you. I don’t want to see your disgusting faces anymore. I’ve had enough with your nonsense.”
The door was slammed in their faces. Sanemi grit his teeth, turning to Shizu. “Why didn’t you let me talk to him?” he said, more angry at his father than his mother. He could never be mad at her.
“I didn’t want him doing anything to you,” she said with a sigh. “At the very least, I wanted to say something for once.”
“Mother… I’m stronger now, okay? I can handle it fine,” Sanemi assured her, his expression softening slightly. Then he brightened, offering her a smile. “But what you said was great. The look on his face—I should’ve taken a picture…”
Shizu laughed. “Why don’t we go to your boyfriend now, hm? I’m sure he’s worried,” she said, taking Sanemi’s hand.
Worried was an understatement, perhaps. Obanai had his knees tucked up, his chin dipping down and arms around his legs. He looked up immediately as they walked into the room. “I heard shouting,” he explained.
Sanemi sighed, sitting down next to him and taking his hand. “Yeah, he’ll probably get mad if he sees you here now. But he’ll get over it. Also, Mother put him in his place,” he said with a triumphant glint in his eye. He lifted Obanai’s hand, kissing between his fingers. “We’ll save your family for tomorrow, maybe. Sleep off any stress?”
Obanai nodded. “‘kay. He didn’t do anything besides shout, right?”
“Right,” Sanemi agreed. “If he had, I probably would’ve taken the door off its hinges and hit him with it.”
Shizu gave him a look of disapproval as she went back to her seat from earlier. “You can’t do that,” she said. “Your father is still dangerous. I have full faith in your strength, but he has a talent at getting his way, perhaps the only thing he’s good at.”
Sanemi let out a breath. “Fine. I’ll try not to hit him with a door, then. Maybe something more effective like a hammer.”
“Sanemi.”
He grinned. “Sorry.”
Obanai leaned on him. “Maybe we won’t tell them.”
“Hm?” Sanemi turned to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “Your family?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t even want them in my life anymore. If we don’t tell them, then maybe it’ll be more… concrete. Leaving them? Like, it could be a start. It’s not like I haven’t thought about running away every second I spend in the house,” Obanai said, closing his eyes. “I don’t want to tell them. I don’t want them to know about you and try to ruin it because you’re the best thing that’s happened to me.”
Sanemi nodded slowly. “Alright. If you say so. If this is just doubt because of my father’s reaction, then—”
“No, it’s not that. I was thinking about this before and I just… Is it alright for you, though?” Obanai asked, looking up.
“Of course. Whatever you want,” Sanemi said, smiling reassuringly.
Shizu wore a smile of her own as she spoke. “How would you like to stay over tonight? I’m sure we could arrange some more room in Sanemi’s bedroom. I’ll make sure Kyogo stays out of your way,” she said.
Obanai glanced at her. “Could I?”
Sanemi nodded. “Well, if she says it’s fine, then it’s fine. And yeah—I’ll seriously punch his face if he tries to do anything to you.”
Obanai laughed. “Noted.”
“Alright, let’s go get you another pillow. I’m sure we could steal one of my brother’s. ShÅ«ya likes hoarding all of them, he should have plenty.”
×××
« Word count: 3255 »
this was unnecessarily long
and i have literally no idea what the hell I wrote so we pretend this isn’t shitty? yes?, ok, love you all<3 happy pride month!!!
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